Why we need a moonshot project for a universal flu vaccine

H5N1 bird flu is here. It’s moving from animals to people in ways not seen before. It’s spreading to new species and new places, and this spread is largely happening under the radar. So far 36 human cases have been reported in six U.S. states: California, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, and Washington.

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Most health officials say they are not really worried about H5N1 influenza just yet because the virus is so very rarely infecting people compared to the number of cattle and birds it’s affected. When it does, so far, it usually causes very mild symptoms and there’s no evidence so far that it can be transmitted from person to person.

[T]he U.S. government is stockpiling H5N1 vaccines. But don’t count on those vaccines saving us if this virus does what flu viruses sometimes do, and turns into a pandemic form. It won’t oblige humanity by slowly mutating, giving people a chance to ramp up vaccines quickly.

“It is going to happen fast,” says Ali Khan, dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health and a veteran of numerous disease outbreaks, from influenza to Ebola.

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